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*[[United States Army Air Forces in Okinawa|USAAF in Okinawa]]
*[[United States Army Air Forces in Okinawa|USAAF in Okinawa]]


== Notes ==
== No!!! ==
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{{reflist|2}}


Revision as of 03:39, 31 May 2009

MCAS Futenma
MCAS Futenma logo
Summary
Airport typeMilitary
OperatorUnited States Marine Corps
LocationOkinawa, Japan
Built1945
In use1945 - present
CommanderCol. Leo A. Falcam
Occupants1st Marine Aircraft Wing
Elevation AMSL247 ft / 75 m
Coordinates26°16′27″N 127°45′23″E / 26.27417°N 127.75639°E / 26.27417; 127.75639
Websitewww.futenma.usmc.mil
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
06/24 9,000 2,743 Asphalt
Sources: Official site[1] and DAFIF [2][3]

Marine Corps Air Station Futenma or MCAS Futenma (ICAO: ROTM) is a United States Marine Corps base located in Ginowan city, on the island of Okinawa. It is home to approximately 4,000 Marines of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing and has been a U.S. military airbase since the island was occupied following the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. Marine Corps pilots and aircrew are assigned to the base for training and providing air support to other land-based Marines in Okinawa.

The base includes a 2,800 meter-long runway as well as extensive barracks, administrative and logistical facilities. The air station is tasked with operating a variety of fixed and rotary-wing aircraft in support of the III Marine Expeditionary Force. The base is also used as a United Nations air facility.

Tenant commands

Location

MCAS Futenma is situated in the center of Ginowan City (pop. 89,000). The air station covers approximately 480 hectares, about one quarter of the area of Ginowan City, and includes a 2,800-meter-long runway.[5]

Local concerns

Due to its urban location, concerns surrounding training flights over residential areas causing noise, air pollution and endangering public safety have become controversial issues in Ginowan City. Safety concerns were intensified after the August 2004 crash of a Marine Corps CH-53D transport helicopter into Okinawa International University. Three crew members were injured, but there were no injuries on the ground.[6]

In December 1996, the Japanese and U.S. governments decided that the Futenma base should be relocated to an off-shore location in Henoko Bay in Nago, northern Okinawa.[7] This was and remains a controversial decision, since the projected site involved construction on a coral reef and seagrass beds which are the habitat of the dugong, an endangered marine mammal protected under Japanese and U.S. law. [8] In a referendum conducted later the same year, a slight majority of Nago residents voted against the Henoko plan. However, shortly afterward, they elected a mayor who campaigned on a platform of accepting the new facility. In March, 2006, a new mayor was elected on a similar platform, getting more votes than his two anti-relocation opponents combined.[9]

Even so, opinion remained divided between those who view the 'relocation' plan as a recipe for development in the northern part of the island, and others who consider it more likely to lead to the destruction of what remains of Okinawa's sub-tropical forests and undegraded coastal reefs.

Current relocation plan

On October 26, 2005, the governments of the United States and Japan agreed to move the relocation site for Futenma from the reef area off Henoko to the interior and coastal portions of the existing Marine infantry base at Camp Schwab, just a few hundred meters away from the offshore facility [10] [11]. The cited reason for the change is to reduce the engineering challenge associated with building a runway on reefs in deep water: experts estimate that rather than the 15-plus years required to construct a new airbase at the previous reef location, the new Camp Schwab plan will enable Futenma to be relocated within 6-8 years. [citation needed]

Reaction to the new plan for Futenma's relocation has been widespread in Okinawa. The local media, who are mainly opposed to relocations of military bases, claim the relocation is an unreasonable increase in burden of hosting bases.[citation needed] However, the newly-elected mayor of Nago (which hosts Camp Schwab) formally agreed to accept the relocation when he signed an agreement with Defense Minister Nukaga on April 8, 2006.[12] Mayor Shimabukuro was later joined by all five of the major mayors of northern Okinawa. Although some all-Okinawa public opinion polls indicate that many Okinawans have reservations about the latest plan, residents of northern Okinawa have recently elected and re-elected leaders who have publicly accepted it. In fact, all 12 mayors of northern Okinawa have publicly accepted the new relocation plan.[citation needed] In this respect, the Futenma issue exposes a major division among Okinawans: between those who remain convinced that military facilities and associated public works infrastructure benefit the island's economy; and those who simply object to the U.S. military presence on ideological grounds.

History

Futenma Airfield was a World War II Imperial Japanese facility until it was seized during the Battle of Okinawa in early Apr 1945. It was initially allocated for Eighth Air Force use to station B-29 Superfortress strategic bombers in the planned Invasion of Japan. With the end of the war, the airfield became a United States Air Force Far East Air Force installation known as Futenma Air Base, and was used as a support airfield for the nearby Kadena Air Base, hosting fighter-interceptor squadrons as part of the air defense of the Ryukyu Islands. The base was transferred to the United States Navy on 30 June 1957 and was subesquently developed into a major United States Marine Corps air station.[13][14]

See also

No!!!

  1. ^ MCAS Futenma, official website, retrieved 2007-11-12
  2. ^ Template:WAD Retrieved 2007-11-12.
  3. ^ Airport information for ROTM at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective October 2006). Retrieved 2007-11-27.
  4. ^ Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron
  5. ^ Global Security website.
  6. ^ Takahashi 2004.
  7. ^ "The SACO Final Report on Futenma Air Station". SACO Final Report. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (MOFA). December 2, 1996. Retrieved 2004-07-24.
  8. ^ Egelko, Bob (August 5, 2004). "Imperiled mammal threatened by plan for Okinawa base, Court in S.F. hears activists advocate applying U.S. law". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2006-07-24.
  9. ^ "Residents vote 'No' to heliport - Japanese report". BBC News. December 21, 1997. Retrieved 2006-07-24.
  10. ^ ABC News, October 26, 2005.
  11. ^ BBC News, October 26, 2005.
  12. ^ Allen, David and Chiyomi Sumida (April 16, 2006). "No accord yet on who pays to move Marines to Guam" (reprint in Leatherneck). Stars and Stripes. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
  13. ^ USAF Historical Research Agency Document 00219137
  14. ^ USAF Historical Research Agency documents for Futenma Air Base

References

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Marine Corps.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.


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